Tuesday, 25 June 2013

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author by Anna Bell – Whose Story is it Anyway?

When you’re reading a book do you ever
wonder what it would be like if it was written through someone else’s eyes?
Another character witnessing the same scene but reacting to it differently?
Well, this week for me, after writing a short story, I made the decision to
re-write the whole thing through someone else’s point of view.

I’ve been writing a short story
featuring the characters of my novel Don’t Tell the Groom. I knew
what story I wanted to tell, but, even though there was sufficient humour and
plot, something wasn’t quite right. It was a story about Penny, my main
character, and yet it didn’t work with her telling the story. When I read it
back, it just sounded bland. I went for a long walk, had a think, and decided
that it needed to be written from her best friend Lou’s perspective. It was
instantly better.

I feel like I know Penny (my main
character) inside out, backwards and forwards, having just completed the draft
of the sequel to the book.
So to write from her perspective is fairly easy for me. I know how she’ll
respond to situations and I know how she’d behave. I think that was the problem
for the short story, it was almost too obvious how she would react. Yet, using the perspective of the best friend gave me the opportunity to explore how Penny is seen by everyone else.

I’d recommend it as a writing tool to
explore your minor characters, whether you intend to use it in your novel or
not. When I started writing from Lou’s perspective I had to collate all the
information we’d gleaned about her in the other books; terrible punctuality,
down to earth, not very financially comfortable, etc. I then started to think
about these traits and how she’d react to the situation in the story. How does
she get on with the other characters? Does she have the same friendships as
Penny? Does she dread meet-ups with their wider social circle? I now feel that
I know Lou better as a character, and I intend to tweak the parts in the sequel
with her in, to make her a more rounded character.

I recently read Nick Spalding’s Love
From Both Sides, and whilst I have to admit I didn’t find it as funny as
everyone said I would, I loved reading about the same events from the two
different characters perspectives. Little nuances or odd actions that one
person describes in their chapter is explained in the next chapter by the other
character. As a narrative device I think it works brilliantly, as a reader it
almost feels like you’re being let in to another side of the story. It reminded
me of the brilliant Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees books, Come Together and Come
Again, for that dual perspective.

Do you play around with who tells your story? Or have you ever
completely re-written chapters to tell it from someone else’s point of view?

Comments

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author by Anna Bell – Whose Story is it Anyway?

When you’re reading a book do you ever
wonder what it would be like if it was written through someone else’s eyes?
Another character witnessing the same scene but reacting to it differently?
Well, this week for me, after writing a short story, I made the decision to
re-write the whole thing through someone else’s point of view.

I’ve been writing a short story
featuring the characters of my novel Don’t Tell the Groom. I knew
what story I wanted to tell, but, even though there was sufficient humour and
plot, something wasn’t quite right. It was a story about Penny, my main
character, and yet it didn’t work with her telling the story. When I read it
back, it just sounded bland. I went for a long walk, had a think, and decided
that it needed to be written from her best friend Lou’s perspective. It was
instantly better.